Wednesday, September 13, 2017

What is this??? is it Christmas... it sure feels like it. Ryobi has partnered with me to sponsor my White Wood Studio workshops...so now I can offer even better workshops and more tools for more building and learning fun. Head on over to the Ryobi Power Tools Canada facebook page and give them a like so you don't miss out on any of the great things coming soon.

I have been working on the workshop...we have done a lot of work since moving here in December...we insulated the garage, added more electricity to run all my tools, we also just outfitted the garage with a propane heater to keep us all toasty during those cold winter months that are on their way so we are ready for year round workshops...and how could I forget this shiplap I just installed...I didn't want to spend much so I went with 1/2" fence boards that I planed...I just wanted to clad the walls and this was the perfect solution...I do plan on painting the wood white.

As you likely know if you have been following my blog for any length of time I am a huge fan of Ryobi tools...they are always just what I need to get all my jobs complete around the house and for all my DIY and building needs...I am so happy to bring them to my workshop.

Not only is this an amazing announcement but I have a second big announcement...I will be hosting the White Wood Winter Market here at our church house in Enfield Ontario just outside of Oshawa in Durham region...It will take place December 2nd and 3rd from 10 am to 3pm...follow my White Wood Studio facebook page to find this event in the events section where all the info will be...Don't forget to like the page so you don't miss out on anything...the market is an all handmade market to showcase some great local makers...more information will follow as I work out all the details....but it will be a fun event and the house will be all decked out for Christmas so come join us and do some Christmas shopping and support some talented local mompreneurs.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

If you have been a long time reader of this blog you will know I am a huge lover of trim...I have used trim in the last two of our houses to create a home full of character and interest...to get away from that plain builder basic home feel...in our new home it came with 140 years worth of charm...the renovations that were done prior to us improved things greatly but there was the last 20% or so to do

to get this home to the finish line and to meet our standards and style...the floors are stripped original pine and all the original pine wainscoting was all stained a similar tone of honey pine...which is not our favourite at all...we got the go ahead to paint the wainscoting and trim throughout as our home, our home is heritage and protected by several by-laws...
I was fortunate to partner with Metrie to upgrade and and complete the trim makeover for our home...
this was a new experience for me, adding to an old home with existing trim work...how would it all blend, my goal was that it would be seamless and it truly is. Metrie has lots of great resources on their website to help you choose the look that suits you and your home.

So much orange...we were happy to lighten and brighten things up...having so much wood makes none of it stand out...after painting the white on the trim the floors became more of a feature.

We felt that the brand new pine flat stock that was used as the baseboards here was very under scaled and was not what would have been installed in 1877...this flat stock was all re purposed.

We added this applied moulding just under the chair rail, there would have been a piece there at some point but was missing when we got here, I think this piece looks like it was always here. It is the french curves scene II poplar panel moulding.

It has been an incredible transformation...I can't wait to do a complete after post once we get our new windows...so excited. An exciting and unexpected side effect of adding the trim and painting it all out white was that it made the floors look so much better, we were going to sand and white wash them but for now I am going to leave them sand them to smooth them out a bit more as they are rough and clear coat them...I think all the white and all the grey toned wood furniture I have added makes the flooring work just fine...lots of beautiful character it just needs a little fine tuning.

As you can see here there were a lot of areas of concern with the wainscoting...gouges, burns and odd markings...non of which we loved or liked...I started this makeover by priming all the wood then caulking all the grooves...all those grooves...the we primed, sanded and painted the baseboards and I installed the painted baseboards...

We have a lot of uneven walls and floors as happens in a building of 140 years...I opted for the simplest option of notching out the baseboards which ended up being a nice clean option.

as soon as I saw this profile this French curves scene II baseboard 7 1/4" I knew it would compliment our original wood work perfectly, Metrie has a great selection of classic to modern contemporary trim options in a range of materials, we chose poplar because it is a great wood to paint. I primed the trim with zinsser primer and then two coats of a melamine paint...I went with simply white.

My hubby chipped in to help with a lot of the painting because I hurt my wrist and arm...

The power of great trim and the right colors is truly amazing don't you think?

thank you Metrie.

Disclaimer, I was supplied with trim courtesy of Metrie, this is an ad but my opinions are my own and 100% honest.

Monday, August 14, 2017

I wanted to buy some Byholma trunk baskets for our family room but Ikea has discontinued the weathered ones I wanted...they added a new basket trunk but it is a dark redish brown color which was not what I wanted...I wanted that old swedish basket look...

I started to search for other options and I found some gorgeous pieces at Target online...but they were very pricey..$260-$400 range....much more than I wanted to spend...so I bought two of the brown baskets from Ikea $99.00 and attempted to make them into what I had envisioned.

my result is more grey than my inspiration but I love how they turned out, it's hard to believe they are even the same baskets

I started this paint process with minwax water based stain in white wash pickling...I generously painted it all over the basket and put it in the sun to dry...

After the white layer I applied a dry brush layer in this custom taupe shade...by dry brush I mean I dipped the brush in to the paint and removed the excess stain on the side of the can to have very little transfer to the basket...I then let that dry...

nest I added some watered how white chalk paint at a ratio 8 parts water to 1 part paint...a very watery mix...I wanted that flat white wash...I brushed it on in a very sloppy generous manner..letting it drip is fine....after it dried I then flicked on drops of this watered paint with a big old brush...then dry brushed it to blend it in...

here is a good close up of another basket I worked on...the more you do the better...

After this I used some black paint on a dry brush and very sparingly dry brushed on black very faintly to just accent and to create that low light type of effect...then I did the same with white chalk paint after that was dry I then applied a very sloppy wet coat of this water white and a touch of black paint to create this barely grey wash...it's the consistency of skim milk....you can't really go wrong...just water white paint and a touch of black...and lots of water...flat paints work best for this look.

After all the applied paint dried, this doesn't take long, I took my ryobi corner cat with a 120 grit paper and sanded the basket to make it appear more worn...

I wanted to add to my basket to create that old antique look with stenciled words...I decided to take inspiration from our location and from the year our house/church was built so Enfield 1877 was the stencil I made with my silhouette machine...a light coat of flat black spray paint and I had my antique one of a kind trunk basket...

after I stenciled the words and numbers I added one more light application over the black of the water grey wash to just soften the black...and that was how I achieved this unique look.

I did two different designs to create the appearance that perhaps I found these trunks.

I'm really please with how they turned out and it was fun to tackle this project...it took about an hour to complete these two baskets on a nice hot sunny day.

So if you are searching for that swedish look but don't have bags of money to spend this is worth the effort...and you can even stock up on clearance baskets because you will want to add this finish to all your baskets...